Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Just wanted to give you guys an account of my experience with Total Wargaming / Mythreal:

I ordered a bunch of stuff (some GW boxes, brushset, a couple paints) from them around mid February, expecting to get it sometime in the next month and a half...
I do live in Germany so I was gonna give them some extra time either way, and their site said shipping would take up to a month, so there.

Around 1 month after the order and not hearing anything, I drop them an email/support ticket asking about the state of things.
To which I hear, that one of my ordered items is simply not available through them, that I could have it refunded, and the rest of the stuff would be sent to me soon(TM).
I'm a bit stumped that they didn't think of telling me this sooner but say great, refund me the one item and send the rest out.
After a week, I hear nothing, no refund on my bank or similar, so I hit them up again.
This time they tell me again sorry sorry, yadayada, and 2 days later I get my partial refund and my stuff gets sent.
Another few weeks later -mid April - my stuff arrives, but what do I see, my brushes and Nuln Oil are missing from the pack and will be sent when available.
Alright, these 2 items were basically the most important things on my order, but hey, they couldn't know that...
I wait, wait, wait - and after a few weeks I get a text telling me that a parcel is waiting for me in a town 500kms away...
Email TWG, tell them they sent it to the wrong town somehow and ask them to resend it once it gets back to them.
Wait, another few weeks, end of may now. I get curious and drop them another email about my missing items, after a week their reply:
"Sorry, we have a backlog of about 600 emails, we'll check".
And now, today, June 19th 2013 my order from mid February, is finally completed... 4 months, most likely more, had I not pestered them every now and then with emails...

TLDR: I do not believe TWG are purposefully trying to comit fraud or similar, I think they are just a poor bunch of absolutely incompetent and mismanaged fools.
If you want your order from them in any reasonable amount of time, either give up that expectation, or pester them with emails until they realize that they're running a horrible business.

For the future I'll stick with a different shop, might be tad more expensive, but at least you know you'll get your stuff within a few weeks tops.

Bunch of fools - stay clear

They're either morons or trying to scam you.
Can't get refunds unless you threaten to take it to the authorities.
And even that is prolonged.A
--Avoid--

Our advice on ordering from Total Wargamer?


Don't.

I think someone needs to collate data, not just from TW, but from all online discounters about the type of item they are trying to buy (from which company) and whether there is a significant delay with their order.

I would hazard a guess that almost all of the people having trouble in this thread are buying GW stuff. I've ordered from TW lots of times and never had any problem, but I think TW (even if this might well be their fault through poor organisation) are suffering from high demand for products that they can't get in on a regular basis - either reduced quantity, or items not even coming at all in orders.

Having worked in an Independent I know GW pretty awful in this regard - that was some years ago now, although from what I've read of accounts from other retailers on here that the situation hasn't improved. The point would then be whether GW are doing this on purpose, in order to drive customers back to ordering direct, or whether it's just the result of too few a quantity of goods being manufactured and so the independent stores getting short shrift.

 Pacific wrote:
I think someone needs to collate data, not just from TW, but from all online discounters about the type of item they are trying to buy (from which company) and whether there is a significant delay with their order.

I would hazard a guess that almost all of the people having trouble in this thread are buying GW stuff. I've ordered from TW lots of times and never had any problem, but I think TW (even if this might well be their fault through poor organisation) are suffering from high demand for products that they can't get in on a regular basis - either reduced quantity, or items not even coming at all in orders.

Having worked in an Independent I know GW pretty awful in this regard - that was some years ago now, although from what I've read of accounts from other retailers on here that the situation hasn't improved. The point would then be whether GW are doing this on purpose, in order to drive customers back to ordering direct, or whether it's just the result of too few a quantity of goods being manufactured and so the independent stores getting short shrift.

Whenever I've ordered from TW the things I've ordered have been listed as "in stock". They seem to have derived their understanding of "in stock" from the old joke "Your dinner's in the freezer. In Tesco."

 Pacific wrote:
I think someone needs to collate data, not just from TW, but from all online discounters about the type of item they are trying to buy (from which company) and whether there is a significant delay with their order.

I would hazard a guess that almost all of the people having trouble in this thread are buying GW stuff. I've ordered from TW lots of times and never had any problem, but I think TW (even if this might well be their fault through poor organisation) are suffering from high demand for products that they can't get in on a regular basis - either reduced quantity, or items not even coming at all in orders.

Having worked in an Independent I know GW pretty awful in this regard - that was some years ago now, although from what I've read of accounts from other retailers on here that the situation hasn't improved. The point would then be whether GW are doing this on purpose, in order to drive customers back to ordering direct, or whether it's just the result of too few a quantity of goods being manufactured and so the independent stores getting short shrift.

Well all the other independents I order GW stuff from manage to get it out to me in 3-7 days usually. They also communicate with the customer rather than doing nothing.

Mythreal/TW are the most incompetent company I've ever had to deal with. They ignored my emails for weeks and in the end the only way I could get them to communicate with me was by posting on their facebook.

I thought I would chip in with similar problems with Total Wargamer.

I pre ordered the Eldar codex from them as soon as it was available (25th May) and was expecting it to arrive a few days after release but gave them some leeway at first. After around 2 weeks I emailed their support asking where my codex and wraithknight were getting a response 3 days later saying they were having some supply issues but were getting an order in 2 days and my order would be picked from that.

Surprise surprise no Eldar for the next two weeks so another email got sent and 4 days after I got a response saying that again they were having problems but I was a priority in the que and would get my stuff sent when they got an order in two days.

It's now lost 8 weeks after I ordered and still no sign of anything. I've just cancelled my order as they have had enough time. I haven't seen a refund yet but I imagine from reading above I will have to chase after that for another few weeks!

My advice: no one should order from this pathetic excuse for a business.

Dalteth

My advice: no one should order from this pathetic excuse for a business.

I've had no problems with about half a dozen orders from TW, but then I'm buying Warlord, Mantic or Army Painter products. Every time I read about someone who has had a problem, it's a GW product. Weird, eh? Also, not just limited to TW, same thing for Wayland.

Funnily enough, nobody has a bad word to say about Troll Trader. Guess which company's range they don't bother stocking?

My advice: Don't buy GW from discount retailers.

Riquende, that's probably good advice, but I still feel that in this case, there are problems with TW that can't just be laid at GW's door -- notably the poor communication (which is a very polite way to say "outright lying") and poor customer service. They advertise delivery in 5-10 working days, but 5-10 weeks would be more accurate.

To heap on the pile, I ordered an Ork Battlewagon and some Grots from TW about a month ago, and then immediately found this thread. Oh well...

I gave them some three weeks, after which I had found a better deal on a used battlewagon. So I contacted them and inquired about the status of my order, which was still listed as processed on their website. I got the standard "we've had some problems, but we're getting a shipment in 2 days and then we'll send you your stuff" reply. Having seen that one on here more than a few times I decided to cancel my order and go for the cheaper, used model.

I respect that it's probably GW screwing these guys over, but the "in 2 days" response is clearly a stalling technique. From experience they should know not to make promises that they clearly cannot keep, regardless of who is at fault.

Wow i just looked at there facebook photo's how can they afford over half a grand of Realms of Battle boards ? I mean they only make about £1.50 profit on £100 pounds worth of GW ordered of there website , why the only way they could make any money at all is if they took peoples money and sat on it for weeks without actually sending anythin.............. oh right

Well, I had waited nearly two months for my orders made back in May. Losing patience I cancelled one of the orders expecting the refund within the standard 4 working days. Over a week later I contacted twg about the refund not appearing in my account, no reply. Today, two weeks since the cancellation, I cancelled my other two orders and messaged them that I was not happy about the delay and the late refund. If this goes on for another week I'll have to look at other ways to pursue the money.
Not impressed at all. I could understand high demand, GW causing trouble with stocking, but to accept orders, take customer money and continue to allow yet more people to make orders on the same products, seems irresponsible and verging on sheer dishonesty.
Would it be so difficult to implement an "out of stock" status on their storefront?
For the record I have ordered from twg before and they were slow, so I did go in expecting to wait, however stalling a refund has really cheesed me off and I won't be buying from them again. I'd suggest anyone else interested in their '30% off sale' claims to spend their money elsewhere and save themselves the trouble.

I ordered the Eldar codex at the same time as a bunch of mantic stuff. Things have ended up being part shipped with all the mantic items arriving but the Eldar Codex is still in limbo even now.

- Though I do have a 'you were out' note today in fact.

I've got Apocalypse on order from Total Wargamer as well.


The truth is, I don't really give a fudge. I'm not in a hurry to play Apocalypse and the eldar codex was a cast of 'Know your Enemy.' As long as they eventually arrive, I'm fine.

 Ian Sturrock wrote:
Riquende, that's probably good advice, but I still feel that in this case, there are problems with TW that can't just be laid at GW's door

What TW are definitely guilty of - and not just TW, but probably most of the online retailers - is not being open about how likely it is that GW orders will be subject to delays and stock shortages. I agree they should (which would fall under better communication, and likely lead to fewer complaints to have to deal with), but I can understand why they don't, for fear of harming sales.

Ultimately, if you're looking for reliably-obtainable wargaming bargains buy from other companies, because GW want to make it as dificult as possible for you to get their stuff at a discount.

Ok, I've now hit a new personal record with my totalwargamer order length.

54 days and still no sight of an Eldar Codex.

 Riquende wrote:

 Ian Sturrock wrote:
Riquende, that's probably good advice, but I still feel that in this case, there are problems with TW that can't just be laid at GW's door

What TW are definitely guilty of - and not just TW, but probably most of the online retailers - is not being open about how likely it is that GW orders will be subject to delays and stock shortages. I agree they should (which would fall under better communication, and likely lead to fewer complaints to have to deal with), but I can understand why they don't, for fear of harming sales.

Ultimately, if you're looking for reliably-obtainable wargaming bargains buy from other companies, because GW want to make it as dificult as possible for you to get their stuff at a discount.

Absolutely, almost without fail the kind of issue that Compel and others have had is when buying GW products.

If you want GW products, buy from them direct of buy off the shelf from the retailer. Alternatively, if you're a principled shopper realise that GW is doing what it can to drive independents out of business, and switch your wargaming habits to a game system from another manufacturer. 2-3 day delivery times will then generally be standard.

Recently bought from Total Wargamer, delivered within a week, no problems.

100% Mantic order.

I got 4 of these: http://totalwargamer.co.uk/kings-of-war-two-player-battle-set.html

95 minis for £28, lots of undead, lots of orcs.

 Pacific wrote:
If you want GW products, buy from them direct of buy off the shelf from the retailer.

Or, you know, just buy from a reseller that doesn't suck? There's several out there.

And I ordered 100% GW, 100% non-delivery so after a month I cancelled and after another month still no refund. Hanging on to customers' money unjustifiably is not GW's fault.

Yeah, well, I've never had a problem with this kind of delay when ordering GW products from Gifts for Geeks, or DarkSphere. So, I'm sure that GW are annoying, and all, but some retailers manage to deal with the annoyance, somehow, and still get their orders shipped on time. Just not Total Wargamer.

 Ian Sturrock wrote:
Yeah, well, I've never had a problem with this kind of delay when ordering GW products from Gifts for Geeks, or DarkSphere. So, I'm sure that GW are annoying, and all, but some retailers manage to deal with the annoyance, somehow, and still get their orders shipped on time. Just not Total Wargamer.

Or you know, they at least talk honestly to you, or give you a refund on request.

Why are you guys even paying by credit/debit card in the first place?

Total Wargamer have a "Cash on Delivery" payment option, whereby you can pay the courier with cash when they deliver the parcel. Only an option for UK orders, though.

I used that option since I was well aware of the shaky reputation recently... and it went fine.

It takes all the risk out of placing an order since if your goods do not arrive, you pay nothing and do not have to seek a refund.

yeah,
So far everything I've ordered has arrived and been cheap.

They got me both wave 1 and 2 X-wing very quickly.
Just placed my Wave 3 X-wing order with them.

regarding cash on collection verses credit card, people might want to pay now, when they have the cash spare, not in a few weeks when a preorder delivers.
I think If I was total wargamer I'd process orders that have paid upfront first, before mailing out cash on delivery orders.
I wouldn't want to miss out on a limited stock item like x-wing because I was paying cash on collection... that order is a lot easier to suspend / cancel by both parties.

Panic...

Well, I got my refunds with TWG sorted finally (was assured it was a technical oversight with it not being put through properly in the first instance).
Will be sticking with DarkSphere in future though.

Ordered a load of historical stuff (Warlord Games), all arrived within a few days.

Anyone got their Apocalypse stuff yet?

I will never order from this company again, nothing but issues.

I like how tens of messages are deleted from their facebook timeline each day, all asking for their item and complaining of lack of communication.

Stay clear.

After another recent ongoing issue with another online retailer I'd now rather pay GW store prices.

I will never order from this company again, nothing but issues.

What did you order? GW stuff?

 Riquende wrote:

I will never order from this company again, nothing but issues.

What did you order? GW stuff?

First order was for Army Painter Stuff, the second was for GW stuff.

The first order was slow but ok (month or so), the second over a few months I experienced everything from being ignored, to the phone being picked up and immediately put down, lies, being it had been dispatched, giving ot a couple days then being told they are hoping to get it out by the end of the week. FB worked and it was comical watching the amount of negative/late order posts where deleted each day. I eventually got refund after offering to come into their shop and collect my order, I was told I couldn't do that as the online and retail shop are 2 different companys.

I did start a hread at he time similar to this one.